Having a 98-year-old paint your portrait is remarkable but it is extra special knowing that the artist has also depicted Queen Elizabeth II and former prime minister John Gorton.
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Such was the situation that Albury priest Father Peter MacLeod-Miller found himself in last year when he was put on canvas by June Mendoza, who has died just short of what would have been her 100th birthday on June 12.
Father MacLeod-Miller was captured in a 2022 portrait alongside his resident London twin brother Leslie, a lawyer who is involved in the arts sector and knew Mendoza through that circle.
"She said (to Leslie) 'I think I should paint you' and he said 'is there enough space on the canvas for two?" Father MacLeod-Miller said.
"And she said 'I only paint from life, I don't paint from photographs'.
"So I went over."
Across a fortnight and five hour-long sittings in Leslie's Westminster abode, Mendoza composed the dual representation which was exhibited at the 2023 annual show of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.
"She painted like a fencer advancing and retreating, doing battle with the canvas and always winning," Father MacLeod-Miller said.
He appears in his clerical garb with a copy of Shakespeare's book of sonnets in his pocket, while his brother wears a chequered Vivienne Westwood-designed suit while nestling a teddy bear in his left arm.
Mixing the casual and the formal was at the heart of Mendoza's most famous artwork in Australia, a portrait of prime minister John Gorton done in the last days of his tenure in 1971.
The Liberal Party leader leans against his desk without a tie and had planned to pose sans jacket until it was suggested he should sport one.
It is the only official portrait of a prime minister in Canberra's Parliament House that has been painted by a woman.
In all, Mendoza generated more than 1000 paintings, including multiple portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the British royal family as well as panoramas of MPs sitting in Australian and UK houses of parliament.
Born in Australia, Mendoza spent most of her life in England and died there on May 16 after suffering a stroke.
Father MacLeod-Miller, who regularly communicated with Mendoza and last saw her in London on May 5, said she stayed energetic.
"To be nearly 100, still working, she'd never spent a day in a nursing home, and still had her driver's licence, that's pretty amazing isn't it?" he said.
"We loved June.
"She was a marvellous person."
The double portrait arrived at Father MacLeod-Miller's home Adamshurst in May and sits near one of its front windows after previously being on show in his brother's home.
However, it's not the only Mendoza in the mansion with a portrait of British pianist Marguerite Wolff, who died in 2011, among the art collection.
Mendoza's funeral will be held on June 5 and on what would have been her 100th birthday, June 12, a memorial will be held with previously planned celebrations becoming tributes.
On June 19, Leslie MacLeod-Miller will host a Century Serenade at his home for the Tait Memorial Trust, of which Mendoza was patron.
The trust supports young performing artists from Australasia who want to advance their careers overseas.
It will now be establishing a June Mendoza Award.
